Hospital for Special Surgery (HHS), which is affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College and has campuses in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, is introducing a telehealth platform in early 2021. This platform, developed with Indiana-based Zimmer Biomet, will allow care providers to remotely monitor and manage orthopedic patients at home using the Apple Watch. Zimmer Biomet is renowned as a top provider of musculoskeletal healthcare solutions. The company’s comprehensive range includes orthopedic reconstructive products, extremities and trauma products, office-based technologies, craniomaxillofacial and thoracic products, and other related surgical items.
HHS is joining forces with Zimmer Biomet’s mymobility with Apple Watch mHealth platform to incorporate its Orthopedic Care Pathways service, granting care providers the ability to monitor and manage post-hospitalization care patients in their own homes. Thanks to this program, patients and providers can keep track of activity via the Apple Watch and communicate with one another during virtual visits, both prior to and after hospitalization. Furthermore, the Orthopedic Care Pathways program is able to be tailored to deliver personalized information and resources to the patient, varying from educational material to questionnaires. This project provides a bridge between clinical programs and consumer-facing digital health tools, giving health systems and hospitals the chance to implement popular projects from Apple, Fitbit, Garmin and more.
The utilization of products such as Apple Watch and mymobility, in combination with HSS Orthopedic Care Pathways, is on the rise. Leonard Achan, President of the Innovation Institute at HSS, states, “[this] will not only enhance physician and patient communication while allowing patients to recover from home where appropriate, but will also provide our physicians with key mobility metrics and outcomes data collected through Apple Watch and the mymobility patient app to help us further optimize our pre- and post-surgery protocols”. Moreover, the partnership with Zimmer Biomet enables HSS to market its care management program to other health systems. Achan further comments, “Partnering with Zimmer Biomet to deploy our validated protocols and expertise into care pathways on the mymobility with Apple Watch remote care platform advances our commitment to delivering expert, customized patient care and brings HSS’ highly-regarded approach to the surgical journey to healthcare systems, clinicians and patients around the world.”
